| Concentration 15:59 - Apr 14 with 4453 views | BklynRanger |
Anyone else working from home and almost completely unable to concentrate?
I usually try to pay attention to things at least 50% of the time - that's the personal target I set for myself anyway - can't say I always hit it :)
But fcuk me! - not sure I'm hitting 25% at the minute!
Exercise helps but my aging knees can't be exercising every minute of the bleedin' day. |  | | |  |
| Concentration on 10:24 - Apr 15 with 898 views | Silverfoxqpr |
| Concentration on 17:18 - Apr 14 by BrianMcCarthy |
I had a wobbly few days a few weeks back where the motivation went.
But I've been following the advice we got from a performance coach for our players. it's excellent and simple. Here's the bones:
1) Go to be at the usual time
2) Get up at the usual time
3) Make a plan each night for the following day
4) Exercise once outdoors every day
5) Exercise once indoors per day
6) Stay in touch with friends and family
7) Learn a new skill, language or instrument
I'm doing all of the above and - because I'm no longer an athlete and only a coach - I enjoy my weekends with good food and drinks.
Hope it helps. It's helping me. |
Yep good advice Brian. Although as someone who usually gets up at 5.45 and commutes into London I must confess I'm making the most of getting up a bit later these last few weeks and saving myself 3 hours ish of commuting time. Still logged on by 8.30 though and now have the opportunity to get in the garage every lunchtime and on the punch bag (no not the Mrs) which I'm loving. One thing for sure I can't ever see myself returning to 5 days a week in the office, working from home for the most part appears to have been a success for my company, it'll certainly be looked at by the hierarchy and give them an excuse to reduce floor space and therefore costs. |  | | |
| Concentration on 13:12 - Apr 16 with 822 views | R_from_afar |
Good topic.
My current job is probably the most enjoyable I have ever had — and I am more grateful than ever to have it now, in these straitened times - but after 33 years of working, I do have to work hard to keep my concentration levels up, wherever I am working.
As soon as I log in, I listen to some very up-tempo music for a few minutes. Metal, drum and bass or trance work best for me.
I try to get an easy win first thing by completing a relatively simple work task, so I am “on the scoreboard” and feel like I have actually started contributing. After that task, I’ll focus on the most urgent thing.
I always aim to tackle the really important projects and those which require really deep concentration when I am at my freshest, in my case, in the morning. Physical exercise stimulates the brain so if I am struggling, I’ll walk around a bit first or run up and down the stairs a couple of times.
I treat my first hot drink of the working day as a reward and always make sure I get some work done before I put the kettle on. This is essential in the (currently closed and “red listed”) company office because the kitchen area is very open plan, my colleagues are extremely sociable, and there are comfy chairs plus loads of treats to make you forget about your e-mails and meetings.
After lunch, a shot of up tempo music is usually required again, to lubricate the cogs of my decrepit old brain.
If there’s distracting noise around, at home or in the office, I listen to pink noise (from YouTube) on my headphones. This tactic is the single most useful one I have ever stumbled across. I started using it when I used to sit almost within touching distance of a colleague who used to regularly hold noisy conference calls, in a strident voice, at their desk. I couldn’t work efficiently during those calls until I adopted that tactic.
When the working day is done, I reward myself before I log off with a yoghurt (oh, the extravagance) and a look at LFW, so the last thing in my head before I close the laptop is football, or flat-roofed pubs, not spreadsheets or document reviews.
To be honest, I probably am more productive in the office — no guitar just begging to be played there, for starters. |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
| |
| Concentration on 13:49 - Apr 16 with 794 views | TacticalR |
I agree that there are some useful tricks to get yourself going. On the noise thing...
@R_from_afar 'If there’s distracting noise around, at home or in the office, I listen to pink noise (from YouTube) on my headphones. This tactic is the single most useful one I have ever stumbled across. I started using it when I used to sit almost within touching distance of a colleague who used to regularly hold noisy conference calls, in a strident voice, at their desk. I couldn’t work efficiently during those calls until I adopted that tactic.'
There was one study that detected a hidden side-effect of pink noise (excuse the long quote):
'In response to workers' gripes about noise, you can either treat the symptom or treat the cause. Treating the cause means choosing isolation in the form of noise barriers—walls and doors—and these cost money. Treating the symptom is much cheaper. When you install Muzak or some other form of pink noise, the disruptive noise is drowned out at small expense. You can save even more money by ignoring the problem altogether so that people have to resort to tape recorders and earphones to protect themselves from the noise. If you take either of these approaches, you should expect to incur an invisible penalty in one aspect of workers' performance: They will be less creative.
During the 1960s, researchers at Cornell University conducted a series of tests on the effects of working with music. They polled a group of computer science students and divided the students into two groups, those who liked to have music in the background while they worked (studied) and those who did not. Then they put half of each group together in a silent room, and the other half of each group in a different room equipped with earphones and a musical selection. Participants in both rooms were given a Fortran programming problem to work out from specification. To no one's surprise, participants in the two rooms performed about the same in speed and accuracy of programming. As any kid who does his arithmetic homework with the music on knows, the part of the brain required for arithmetic and related logic is unbothered by music—there's another brain center that listens to the music.
The Cornell experiment, however, contained a hidden wild card. The specification required that an output data stream be formed through a series of manipulations on numbers in the input data stream. For example, participants had to shift each number two digits to the left and then divide by one hundred and so on, perhaps completing a dozen operations in total. Although the specification never said it, the net effect of all the operations was that each output number was necessarily equal to its input number. Some people realized this and others did not. Of those who figured it out, the overwhelming majority came from the quiet room.
Many of the everyday tasks performed by professional workers are done in the serial processing center of the left brain. Music will not interfere particularly with this work, since it's the brain's holistic right side that digests music. But not all of the work is centered in the left brain. There is that occasional breakthrough that makes you say “Ahah!” and steers you toward an ingenious bypass that may save months or years of work. The creative leap involves right-brain function. If the right brain, is busy listening to 1001 Strings on Muzak, the opportunity for a creative leap is lost.
The creativity penalty exacted by the environment is insidious. Since creativity is a sometime thing anyway, we often don't notice when there is less of it. People don't have a quota for creative thoughts. The effect of reduced creativity is cumulative over a long period. The organization is less effective, people grind out the work without a spark of excitement, and the best people leave.'
Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister, Peopleware - Productive Projects and Teams (2013)
I am not sure about the left brain and right brain stuff as the explanation, but I do think a lot of us are much worse at multitasking than we think we are. I do often listen to sports podcasts while I'm working by the way.
Previous discussion about the same book and noise here:
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/forum/220633/3106929/#post3106929 |  |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
